Quinn Brandon hired in Cornersville

A Lewisburg-based attorney who serves as a city councilwoman there was hired by the Cornersville Board of Mayor and Alderman, who have her brother as their town administrator.

Quinn Brandon's appointment was effective April 6. She replaces Todd Moore, whose resignation was accepted by the BOMA.

"We disagreed over how an order was done for some property," said city manager Taylor Brandon to explain Moore's resignation.

Quinn Brandon serves as traffic judge for the town of Petersburg, but does not see this, plus acting as Lewisburg city councilwoman and attorney for Cornersville, as putting too many demands on her time.

"I'm looking forward to it," she said of her work for Cornersville. "I've been helping them all along when they needed help and haven't been charging anything."

The BOMA agreed to pay her a retainer of $600 per month. This covers attendance at meetings and routine work. "It's actually on the low end," said Taylor. "Usually attorney's will charge $150 per hour if they're doing work for you."

Taylor stresses it was the BOMA's decision to employ his sister.

"I have no say in who they retain," he said. "She's going to do what will be good for Cornersville."

Quinn is the sixth generation of Brandons to work in the legal profession. She is in practice with her father, Roger Brandon, judge for the city of Lewisburg. "I guess it's in my blood," she laughs.

The town of Cornersville's board of mayor and aldermen also decided to dismiss their traffic judge, attorney Christopher Westmoreland of Shelbyville.

"The Board was uncomfortable about an incident with one of our police officers in traffic court," explained Taylor. He said to find a new traffic court judge he asked around and

Twenty-eight-year-old David McKenzie expressed an interest. The traffic court judge holds two sessions a month and is paid $100 for each one. McKenzie has an office on First Avenue South in Lewisburg.

Quinn Brandon has also been appointed as delinquent tax attorney for the town of Cornersville, which gives her the authority to pursue delinquent property taxes.

When asked how much money was involved with the 2007 taxes, Taylor Brandon replied, "$3,540."

"That would buy mulch," exclaimed alderwoman Lezlie Calahan.

Improvements to the town playground, including replacing the pea gravel with mulch, had also been discussed at the meeting. Alderwoman Melissa Peters offered to talk to Cam Harmon about donating mulch for the playground the way he did for the elementary school, and mayor Amos Davis encouraged her, saying, "He's done a lot for Cornersville."

"We won't raise taxes this year even though our revenues are way down," said Taylor, explaining that state-shared revenues are "way down and getting worse."

"We'd be foolish to raise taxes in the current economic situation," he continued. "At the end of the year we will get in to our fund balance."

At the meeting, mayor Amos Davis had said about the town's finances, "Hopefully we're going to come out fine, but we have three months to go."